Here’s our fantasy premier league free hit tips article where we show our first draft FFGeek team for the upcoming double gameweek.
Fantasy Premier League Free Hit Tips – A FFGeek team first draft
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Background
The Premier League has said that on the 17 June the 19/20 season will restart if the safety requirements are in place. The Fantasy Premier League site’s plan is to resume FPL with additional multiple Gameweeks for the remaining 92 fixtures.
Aston Villa v Sheffield United and Manchester City v Arsenal, were postponed due to the Carabao Cup final and will now take place on Wednesday 17 June, 2 days before a full gameweek commences on Friday 19 June.
That will mean a double gameweek for the 4 clubs above:
The doubles are as follows:
Aston Villa ( Sheffield United H) and (Chelsea H)
Sheffield United (Aston Villa A) and (Newcastle A)
Manchester City (Arsenal H) and (Burnley H)
Arsenal (Man City A) and Arsenal (Brighton A)
The games in that gameweek then assuming it is as GW30 was are then:
Aston Villa v Sheffield United
Man City v Arsenal
Watford v Leicester
Bournemouth v C Palace
Brighton v Arsenal
Man City v Burnley
Newcastle v Sheffield Utd
Norwich v Southampton
Aston Villa v Chelsea
West Ham v Wolves
Spurs v Man Utd
Everton v Liverpool
Background
If you’re not familiar with the site my previous 3 seasons overall ranks are 36k, 17k and 21k
Current total points: 1,693. Overall Rank: 31k Team value: £102.7m. Free transfers: 2
I have my 2nd wildcard, Free Hit and Bench Boost available
Here’s my current team:
So as you can see from the team I have only 2 players from the double gameweek. De Bruyne and Basham.
It seems that there is a good chance that there will be only 1 double gameweek before the end of the season.
So for me one of the chips needs to be used. I’m reasonably happy with the team going forward as it is, so a wildcard isn’t the right choice nor is a bench boost as the bench isn’t that strong.
So the Free Hit is the only real option for me here I think
A draft Free Hit team
Here’s the fantasy premier league sites definition of the Free Hit Chip if you are unfamiliar with it:
Make unlimited free transfers for a single Gameweek. At the next deadline your squad is returned to how it was at the start of the Gameweek.
Firstly here’s the team:
As a general rule although I’m quite a cautious, risk averse FPL manager I do think it’s worth going all out on double gameweeks and that is how I’ve approached this on a position by position basis below:
Goalkeeper
Ederson was out for me as I wanted to go triple Man City attack. I did think about Henderson as a triple up Sheffield defence but I thought Fleck would be a handy cheap player for the midfield.
I have no faith in the Villa defence and so I was left with Leno. He does face Man City so will see a number of shots and his save % is good. However he’s hardly an ideal selection but the best of a sub optimal bunch.
Defence
I’ve disregarded the Villa defence as being awful and Leno is enough Arsenal presentation for me. City’s allocation is used up on attackers so that only leaves Sheffield United. One of the season’s decisions is going to be Centre Backs vs Full Backs/Wing Backs.
Of the top 20 attacking defenders in my article on the subject 12 are fullbacks/wingbacks, 7 are Centre Backs and 1 is an out of position player. So Fullbacks give more attacking potential but as they cover more ground are more rotatable. That is the difficult trade off.
I’ve gone for double Sheffield defence almost as a residual option. I have thought of rolling the dice on a triple but it’s just a bit rich for my blood. Enda Stevens is the pick of the attacking defenders for Sheffield United if you discount Lundstram who for me has gametime risk attached to him being sub 4 of the last 5 games. His replacement is the clubs record signing. O’Connell is a CB of sorts and is 2nd on the attacking list after Stevens. Baldocks attacking underlying stats are surprisingly ordinary.
Alexander Arnold was partly a function of money left over believe it or not so he goes into the team. He’s also partly a result of the last time I considered taking him out of my team but luckily didn’t was away to Leicester when he scored 24 FPL points with a goal and 3 assists. Everton have issues with crosses so I have no problem with him in my team.
Midfield
If you’re going all out on Man City attack as I’ve decided to then the obvious 3 are Sterling, De Bruyne and Aguero. Not only from returns but possibly from gametime as well although Aguero is never one to be too confident with. Otherwise you’re left with the Silva’s and Mahrez which is even more risky. Or Sane who’s coming back from a major injury. I haven’t ruled out dropping Sterling or Aguero and going for Ederson as the 3rd Man City representative but for the moment I’ve gone for the triple attack.
For Villa there’s only Grealish. I’ll come to Samatta below. I like El Ghazi but he’s too much of a gametime risk.
Fleck is the only Sheffield attacking option for me and his value generally helps the construction of the team even if he isn’t the greatest option.
Forwards
Aguero and Aubameyang are pretty self explanatory. Aguero is explosive but has gametime risk and Aubameyang has security but a tough fixture and I’m also a bit sceptical as his underlying stats are far from impressive and he’s only got what he has so far due to massive over performance which he hasn’t shown before in his career. However he is the only Arsenal attacking asset for me.
I have debated dropping Aubameyang for Salah but at the moment I’ll game with the 2 game Aubameyang.
Bench
In midfield and forward positions I have 1 player from 2 double gameweekers to choose from in case someone doesn’t play in the attacking positions. 1 though has to start. At this stage I’m not sure who I would start of Samatta or Saka. Probably Samatta but no need to make a decision yet for this article.
Button obviously is the bench GK. He won’t play but I can’t imagine Leno won’t play at least 1 game.
The definite bench is Simpson and Ngakia. Simpson as the cheap £3.9m player. Ngakia is cheap although I suspect Fredericks will return after injury but worth a shot. Neither will likely play but I’m gambling on the 3 lead defenders starting.
Squeezing in Pepe
Here’s another option which squeezes in Pepe. I’m not a huge fan but he’s the only other player from Arsenal I would consider.
The transfers would be:
Alexander Arnold out – Targett in (who would start in a 3-5-2)
Saka out – Pepe in
Samatta out – Greenwood in
It depends whether you think losing Alexander Arnold for Targett and losing a back up double gameweek sub is worth it for Pepe.
Other Posts
FFGeek contributors on the upcoming DGW part 1
FFGeek contributors on the upcoming DGW part 2
Fixture ease schedule for attacking players
Fixture ease schedule for defensive players
Double gameweek confirmed by the FPL site
10 top FPL Managers teams post GW38
Best fixtures until the end of the season attackers
Best fixtures to the end of the season defenders
Each teams top PPM player – Arsenal and Aston Villa
Each Teams top PPM player – Bournemouth and Brighton
Each teams top PPM player – Burnley and Chelsea
Each teams top PPM player – Palace and Everton
Each teams top PPM player – Leicester and Liverpool
Each teams top PPM player – Man Utd and Man City
Each teams top PPM player – Norwich and Newcastle
Each teams top PPM player – Southampton and Sheffield
Each teams top PPM player – Watford and Spurs
Latest news on the premier league restart
A deep dive on the 10 top FPL managers stats
Andrew Whitfield gradual wildcard
Social Media
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